


Hang On To Yourself

by pandorabox82



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-11 22:06:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7072351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandorabox82/pseuds/pandorabox82
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Penelope goes over to tune up Erin's computer, she finds out something about the woman that gives them something in common - a love for David Bowie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hang On To Yourself

"Hey, Erin, I'm just going to give your computer a small tune up while Rossi takes you to lunch. He thought that you would be less likely to swear and throw things if I did a few small repairs on it."

As Penelope watched, the older woman blushed a bright red before giving a jerky nod. "Well, I was right in the middle of a great writing session when it locked up on me, and I had to restart. I lost eight hundred words, Penny. I salvaged a bit of the scene, but still. I think that deserved a little bit of yelling and swearing."

"And what about the throwing things?" she asked as she sat down at the desk and booted up Erin's computer.

"That was David's fault. He tried to make a joke of it, and I picked up my pad of sticky notes and threw it at his head. My aim is still deadly."

"She is right about that, Kitten," Rossi said as he ambled into the room. "I thought that you'd be ready by now, Erin."

"Yes, well, I had to actually speak with our guest before we left on our date. If you're hungry, there's leftovers in the fridge, feel free to grab something. We shouldn't be more than ninety minutes."

"Take your time, honey. I'll be fine here."

Erin nodded and let Rossi wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her close. Penelope sighed to watch the way they came together as they walked, knowing what a struggle it had been as she recovered from what Curtis had done to her. Once the duo was out the door, though, she turned to the computer and began to run a few basic diagnostics.

As those ran in the background, she felt the familiar itch to go snooping around in Erin's files and find out some more about the woman. While she and Erin had started to grow closer in the months since her return, there were still so many things that she didn't know about her. "All right, Garcia, let's hold off on the spying. She deserves her privacy," she murmured as she called up Firefox and logged into her email, catching up on it.

That only took ten minutes, and soon the craving to go digging into Erin's files began to creep up on her once more. Finally giving into temptation, she called up the documents folder and opened the pictures folder. It didn't surprise her that Erin had everything neatly organized by decade, and she decided to start with the earliest photos, obviously from Erin's childhood.

"Oh, my god, Erin. You were such an adorable child!" she squeaked out as she clicked through. It didn't take long to find a favorite photo in that folder, as it so suited Erin. She was obviously dressed up for Halloween in a faithful reproduction of a lady's riding costume, seated sidesaddle on a gorgeous Arabian horse. Even at eight, she had that slightly imperious look perfected, and Penelope smiled as she committed the image to memory.

Deciding to move on to the next folder, she was pleasantly surprised to see that Erin had been a mod girl, her skirts short, and wide headbands holding back her blonde hair. As she clicked the next button, she saw that there were a few from a concert that Erin must have gone to when she was a teenager. "Shut up," she whispered as she started to recognize the venue. And then, the first picture of David Bowie showed up, and she had to suppress her scream of delight.

She carefully went through the next picture, marveling at how close to the stage Erin was. She had known that the Kalamazoo show had been one of the tougher ones to get into, and yet, here the woman was, up close and personal with the stage and the legend himself. "You have to get home and tell me the story behind…"

Her voice trailed off as she clicked to the next picture. "Erin, how have you never told me that you met the legend?" she hissed, leaving the picture up on the screen as she checked on her diagnostic tests. They were going well, and she knew that the computer would soon be in tip top shop, and she would have to wait until they got home before she could pick her brain.

Her stomach growled loudly, and she got up from the desk and wandered into the kitchen. When Erin had mentioned leftovers, she had hoped that meant Rossi had made too much food as usual, so something delicious was waiting for her to eat.

Opening the fridge, she spied a pan of his spinach lasagna, and grinned widely, pulling it out and bringing it over to the counter to cut a slab, setting it on a plate and microwaving it while she poured herself some water. It didn't take her long to eat, since she was so keyed up over her discovery, and the moment she was finished, she hustled back into the living room and pulled out her iPad, calling up the Tumblr app.

Penelope chose to write a new post, telling her followers how she knew someone who had met David Bowie, and how irritating it was that they had never talked about this before. She made certain to only tag the White Duke himself, not wanting to call attention to Erin or make her feel like she was suddenly internet famous. After hitting post, she scrolled through her feed, smiling and reblogging pictures and news articles that caught her fancy.

It was surprising how quickly the time passed, as the next thing she knew, she was hearing the garage door open and close, and she closed the program before turning back to Erin's computer and finalizing the tune up.

"Penny, we're home!" the older woman called out, and she took a deep breath as she waited for them to come join her. "So, is everything okay?"

She waited for Erin to take a seat on the sofa before answering. "No, everything is not all right. I need you to explain some pictures that I found on your computer."

Erin gasped, and Rossi curled his hand protectively around her shoulder. "Kitten, I know for a fact that Erin would not have anything even remotely compromising on her computer. That's not who she is."

"Oh, I never said that these were compromising pictures. I just want to chat about a certain someone meeting one of my idols and never telling me about it. I thought we were friends!"

Erin's eyes grew wide as she clapped her hand over her mouth. "Bella, what haven't you told me?" Rossi asked as he looked down at his fiancée.

"Um, I was really young. And I had really questionable taste in music."

"Hey! There is nothing wrong with loving glam rock!"

"This is about the David Bowie concert, isn't it?" he asked tiredly, rubbing his hand over his face. "Honestly, Kitten, that's ancient history."

She turned on him, pinning him with one of her patented glares. "Um, it may be ancient history to you, bucko. But to me, this is new and I want to hear all the details! Spill, my sweet rock goddess!"

The older woman laughed as she patted the spot next to her on the couch, shooing Rossi away. Penelope came over and took a seat, letting Erin clasp her hand tightly. "That was taken in…"

"Kalamazoo, Michigan. I am well versed in the different venues that the Isolar Tour visited. But I don't ever remember seeing these pictures on the internet. How have you managed to keep them a secret all these years?"

"I've always been a private person." Erin took a deep breath. "But I do love his music, even to this day. It's my guilty pleasure, you know. Everyone assumes, and rightly so, that I love classical and jazz, but there's something so…primal about the way he sings."

"What, no love for Beyoncé?" Rossi joked, and they both shot him a withering glance. "Okay, geez, forget I asked," he replied, holding up his hand to them.

"Seriously, Rossi, when it takes more than a handful of people to write the lyrics to "Who Run the World", and it takes one man to write the lyrics to "Rebel, Rebel," you know hands down who the winner is. Give me Martha Wainwright or Jenny Lewis any day over Queen Bey." She couldn't quite keep the derision from her voice, and Erin giggled next to her as she nodded. "Oh, please tell me that you listen to them, too!"

"I'm a folkie at heart. It's the music I grew up on, and you never really leave that behind, even if I did flirt with the White Duke."

There was something in her voice that told Penelope that she may have done a little more than flirt with the man, and she leaned in, staring into Erin's eyes. "Tell. Me. Everything."

Erin nodded before glancing at Rossi. "Honey, I'd rather this be girl time. Don't worry, it's nothing bad, there's just certain things that girlfriends keep to themselves. Okay?"

He nodded before standing up and coming over to her side. Leaning down, he kissed her softly before pulling out a black velvet box and handing it to Penelope. "Kitten, see if you can get her to agree to wear this by the end of your girl talk time. I'm getting a little tired of hearing no fall from her lips."

Penelope couldn't help but look inside the ring box before glancing back at the man. "Oh, you know how hard it is to resist me when I'm at my best."

"That's what I'm planning on. Seriously, Erin, be my wife."

She shrugged a little before answering. "Maybe in five years."

"Five years? You're killing me! I'll be well into my golden years if we wait that long." He pressed another kiss to her lips before leaving the room. "Kitten, it's up to you now. Convince her to stay."

"I'll try my best!" Penelope waggled her fingers at him as he disappeared down the hall before turning back to Erin. "All right, spill. How were you so lucky as to meet David Bowie?"

Erin blushed a deep red as she shrugged. "So, I was fifteen and there was no way that I could afford tickets to that show, even though I was in love with his music. We lived in Grand Rapids at that time, and I knew that the only way I could attend the concert was to win tickets. WGRD was running a contest, where if you were the twentieth caller after they played "Panic in Detroit", you would win tickets and entered into a drawing to win backstage passes."

"And you won both," Penelope interrupted, grabbing hold of Erin's hand. "How lucky is that? I never managed to have such good luck in my life!"

"Yes, well, it was sort of fated to be, seeing as how the concert was on my birthday. And it was a very sweet sixteen." Erin's blush became more pronounced as she looked down at her left hand. "So, I dragged my best friend, Emily, along with me, since she was a year older and could actually drive. She was more of a jazz fan, even then. It was a rock star moment, being led to the front of the arena, so close to the stage that I could watch him swallow between songs."

"And then…?" she prodded, hoping that she would get more details of a night that was obviously pleasurable for her.

"The concert was perfect. Sixteen songs that I sang along with, catching his eye every so often, and watching him wink at me in return. I really had no idea what was coming over me at the time, usually I was reserved, you know? But there was something so freeing about the concert, and then, afterwards, we got led backstage."

Penelope could feel every nerve in her body thrumming as she anticipated Erin revealing that Bowie had been her first, that the night they had spent together was spectacular and had made her believe that there was life on Mars. Leaning forward, she bit her lip as she looked up at Erin, her eyebrows quirking up. "So, what was he like?"

A secretive smile curved across Erin's lips as she looked away from Penelope. "Only my Davie is a better kisser," she finally murmured, and Penelope squealed a little, causing Erin to flinch. "Oh, I hope I didn't give you the wrong impression…"

"Why? I mean, you did let him be your first, didn't you?"

Erin shook her head as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "No. We just enjoyed a really intense make out session. He tasted of cloves and cinnamon, Penelope. If I had been of age, or less inhibited, I might have let things go farther than they did. It was really, really, nice."

Penelope felt her shoulders slump a little, and she heard Erin laugh gently. "I guess I just assumed by your body language that things went all the way. I'm sorry."

She shrugged a little as she reached out to stroke Penelope's hair. "There's nothing to be sorry for. If I were in your position, I would have assumed that I had enjoyed a night of passion with the man as well. Some things just weren't meant to be. Even if it would have given me a claim to fame, I wanted my first time to be special, with someone I loved."

"I always assumed you were a closet romantic, Erin. It's just nice to have it confirmed time and again." Penelope looked down at the box in her hand and smiled. "So, what are you going to say to David? Are you going to make some changes in your life?"

Erin shrugged. "You know, when we met, I was the queen bitch in the office. Yet there was still this spark between us that refused to go out. But we were both married, and I fought tooth and nail to keep everything on an even keel. Because that was who I needed to be. This time, I don't want to make the same mistake. Yes, I am going to wear his ring. Hand it over."

Penelope squealed happily as she thrust the box into Erin's hands, watching her snap it open and tug out the ring before slipping it onto her finger. "So, I guess we're just waiting on the man to return, so you can tell him the good news. Oh, this is so exciting!"

A soft laugh slipped from Erin's lips as she nodded, leaning forward to hug Penelope tightly. "I suppose that it is. And now, to plan the wedding. Do you think we can get away with flying to Vegas and having done with it in the space of a weekend?"

"If that's what you want, it can be arranged, Erin." They both looked up to see Rossi standing in the doorway. "I came as soon as I heard Kitten squeal. I knew that meant you had said yes to her."

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that you were serious."

"And I am. We can hire out a private jet and be there in five hours. In time for supper and then a wedding. If you don't mind tagging along, Kitten."

"I don't think you need to ask twice, my sweet Italian Stallion. Let me run up and pick out something for you two to wear."

"I'll come along, too, Penny. I don't want to end up with something too outré." They stood up together and slipped past Rossi to head upstairs. "This is going to be an adventure, you know."

"I do. And I'm just glad that I get to experience it with you." She reached out for Erin's hand and squeezed it tightly, feeling happiness sweep over her heart as she knew that she'd be in on something before anyone else on the team. And she couldn't wait to tell the others of this exciting turn of events. It would just have to wait until they returned.


End file.
